أفي أهل ذا النادي عليم أسائله

فإني لما بي ذاهب اللب ذاهله

Is there among the people of this gathering someone knowledgeable whom I may question?

For, from what afflicts me, I have lost my reason and am bewildered.

سمعت حديثاً أحسد الصم عنده

ويذهل واعيه ويخرس قاتله

I heard news at which I envy the deaf;

it bewilders its hearer and strikes his killer dumb.

فهل من جواب تستغيث به المنى

ويعلو على حق المصيبة باطله

Is there an answer through which hopes may seek help,

and whose falsehood might overcome the truth of this calamity?

وقد رابني من شاهد الحال أنني

أرى الدست منصوباً وما فيه كافله

The visible evidence of the situation has troubled me: I

see the throne set up, with no guardian upon it.

فهل غاب عنه واستناب سليله

أم اختار هجراً لا يرجى تواصله

Has he departed from it and appointed his son as deputy,

or chosen an estrangement from which no reunion is hoped for?

فإني أرى فوق الوجوه كآبة

تدل على أن الوجوه ثواكله

For I see grief upon the faces,

showing that those faces are bereaved of him.

فيا أيها الدست الذي غاب صدره

فماجت بلاياه وهاجت بلابله

O throne, whose foremost man has vanished,

so its afflictions surged and its turmoil raged!

عهدت بك الطود الذي ساخ في الثرى

وفي كل أرض خوفه وزلازله

I knew with you that mountain which sank into the earth,

while fear of him and his tremors fill every land.

ومن سد باب الملك والأمر خارج

إلى سائر الأقطار منه وداخله

And who barred the gate of sovereignty, while commands go out

from it to every region, and come into it?

ومن عوق الغازي المجاهد بعدما

أعدت لغزو المشركين جحافله

And who held back the campaigning warrior of the faith, after

his legions had been readied for war against the polytheists?

ومن أكره الرمح الرديني فالتوى

وأرهقه حتى تحطم عامله

And who forced the Rudayni spear until it bent,

and overstrained it until its upper shaft shattered?

ومن كسر العضب المهند فاغتدى

وأجفانه مطروحة وحمائله

And who broke the keen Indian blade, leaving

its scabbards and sword-belts cast aside?

ومن سلب الإسلام حلية جيده

إلى أن تشكى وحشة لطوق عاطله

And who stripped Islam of the ornament from its neck,

until its bare neck lamented its loneliness for a necklace?

ومن أسكت الفضل الذي كان فضله

خطيباً إذا التفت عليه محافله

And who silenced excellence, whose excellence served

as an orator whenever his assemblies gathered around him?

وما هذه الضوضاء من بعد هيبة

إذا خامرت جسماً تخلت مفاصله

And what is this clamor after such awe

that, entering a body, made its joints give way?

كأن أبا الغارات لم ينش غارة

تريك سواد الليل فيه قساطله

As though Abu al-Gharat had never launched a raid

whose dust clouds showed you night-darkness within it;

ولا لمعت بين العجاج نصوله

ولا طرزت ثوب الفجاج مناصله

nor his blades flashed amid the battle dust,

nor his swords embroidered the garment of the mountain passes;

ولا سار في عالي ركائب موكب

ينافس فيه فارس الخيل راجله

nor he traveled among the lofty mounts of a procession

whose foot soldier rivaled the mounted rider;

ولا مرحت فوق الطروس يراعه

كما مرحت تحت السروج صواهله

nor his reed pens frolicked across the pages,

as his neighing steeds frolicked beneath their saddles;

ولا قسمت ألحاظه بين مخلص

جميل السجايا أو عدو يجامله

nor his glances were apportioned between a sincere friend

of fine character or an enemy he treated courteously;

ولا قام في المحراب والحرب عاملاً

من البأس والإحسان ما الله قابله

nor he stood at the prayer niche and in battle, performing

deeds of valor and kindness which God accepts.

تعجبت من فعل الزمان بنفسه

ولا شك إلا أنه جن عاقله

I marvel at what time has done to itself;

there is no doubt but that its sane mind has gone mad.

بمن تفخر الأيام بعد طلائع

ولم يك في أبنائها من يماثله

In whom can the days take pride after Tala'i,

when none among their children could equal him?

أتنزل بالهادي الكفيل صروفها

وقد خيمت فوق السماك منازله

Can their reversals befall the guiding guardian,

though his stations have pitched camp above al-Simak?

وتسعى المنايا منه في مهجة امرئ

سعت منهم الأقدار فيما تحاوله

And deaths pursue, in him, a man's lifeblood;

the decrees of fate strove from among them in what they seek.

حبائل لم يعلقن إلا بأروع

تمد لصيد النيرات حبائله

Snares that caught none but a splendid man,

whose own snares are spread to catch the shining stars.

يبيت ومن زهر الأسنة في الدجى

مشاعره وقت القرى ومشاعله

He spends the night; from gleaming spearheads in the dark

come his waymarks and torches at the hour of hospitality.

أناديه قل كيف شئت فهذه

خصائصه مأثورة وحصائله

I call to him—say what you will—for these

are his recorded qualities and accomplishments.

وعدد سجايا أبيض الوجه أبلج

تصدق دعوى المادحين فضائله

And number the virtues of a white-faced, radiant man;

his merits confirm the claims of his praise-singers.

كذبناه في دعوى الوفاء بعهده

متى جف هامي الدمع أو كف هامله

We belie him in claiming fidelity to his covenant

whenever the streaming tears dry or their torrent ceases.

أيرثي لساني مجده بعد مدحه

وما لي لم تخذل لساني خواذله

Shall my tongue lament his glory after praising it?

And why have its betrayers not deserted my tongue?

ألم يك في قلبي من الهم والجوى

وحر الأسى شغل عن الشعر شاغله

Was there not in my heart enough care and burning grief,

and sorrow's heat, to occupy it and turn it from poetry?

سيذبل روض الشعر من بعد يومه

فلا عاش ذوايه ولا أخضر ذابله

The garden of poetry will wither after his day;

may its fading growth not live, nor its wilted growth turn green.

دعوني فما هذا بوقت بكائه

سيأتيكم طل البكاء ووابله

Leave me: this is not the time to weep for him;

the drizzle of weeping and its downpour will come to you.

ولا تنكروا حزني عليه فإنني

تقشع عني وابل كنت آمله

Do not deny my sorrow for him, for

a downpour I had hoped for has dispersed away from me.

ولم لا نبكيه ونندب فقده

وأولاده أيتامه وأرامله

Why should we not weep for him and lament his loss,

when his children are his orphans and his widows?

فيا ليت شعري بعد حسن فعاله

وقد غاب عنا ما بنا الدهر فاعله

Ah, would that I knew, after his noble deeds,

now he is gone from us, what time will do to us.

أيكرم مثوى ضيفكم وغريبكم

فيمكث أم تطوى ببين مراحله

Will the lodging of your guest and stranger be honored,

so he stays, or will departure fold up his journey's stages?

وهل تنعم الدنيا علي بمنعم

أجالسه من بعده وأؤاكله

And will the world bestow on me a benefactor

with whom I may sit and dine after him?

سآوي إلى ركن شديد والتجي

إلى ملك عم البرية نائله

I shall seek shelter in a mighty pillar, and take refuge

with a king whose generosity encompasses all creation;

إلى العادل بن الصالح الملك الذي

أقابل وجه البشر حين أقابله

with al-Adil, son of al-Salih, the king

whose meeting brings me face to face with gladness.

أقوال وقول الحق فرض على الفتى

إذا شهدت بالصدق يوماً دلائله

Words—and speaking the truth is a man's duty—

when its proofs one day testify to its truthfulness:

ألا إن سلطان ابن رزيك لم يزل

ورزيك ليث الغاب إن غاب باسله

know that Ibn Ruzzik's sovereignty has never ceased,

and Ruzzik is the forest's lion, though its champion is gone.

هو المجد أغنانا عن الليث شبله

وناب لنا عن صالح فيه عادله

He is glory itself: his cub has spared us the need for the lion,

and in him, his Adil has taken Salih's place for us.

تولى وقد خلى علائق ثقله

ولكن تولى ذلك الثقل حامله

He departed, leaving the obligations of his burden,

but the bearer of that burden took charge of it.

فكان كرجع الطرف وحشة آهل

من العز حتى قيل أونس آهله

Thus the loneliness of a home once filled lasted only a blink

with honor, until they said, 'Its inhabitant is comforted.'

وما هو إلا بدر مجد وسؤدد

بدا طالعاً في الدست إن غاب آهله

He is but a full moon of glory and lordship

that has risen upon the throne when its occupant is gone.

وفرع كريم الأصل سد مسده

فبورك من نجل وقدس ناجله

And a branch of noble stock has taken his place:

blessed be the son, and sanctified his begetter!

وما زلت قبل اليوم قرة عينه

وقاصية الذخر الذي كان يأمله

Before today, you always were the delight of his eye,

and the utmost treasure that he had hoped for.

ولو كان حياً سره فعلك الذي

تجلت له من كل فضل مخائله

Had he been alive, your deed would have pleased him,

in which the signs of every excellence have shone clear.

عذرت به الأيام من بعد عدلها

وقد يعذر الجاني من الناس عاذله

Through it I pardoned the days after their deviation,

for a wrongdoer's rebuker among men may pardon him.

تداركت هذا الخلق عدلاً ورأفة

وقد أجهضت من شدة الخوف حامله

You rescued these people with justice and compassion,

when their pregnant woman had miscarried from intense fear.

وأطفأت نار الشر بعد التهابها

وسكنتها والشر تغلي مراجله

And you extinguished evil's fire after it had flared,

and calmed it while evil's cauldrons boiled.

وأحسنت ذكر الدهر بعد إساءة

تبين فيها ميله وتحامله

And you restored time's good name after a wrong

that had revealed its bias and oppression.

وكانت أمور الناس فوضى فساسها

ودبرها مستجمع العزم كامله

The people's affairs were chaos; he set them in order,

and managed them, possessed of resolve in all its fullness;

أغر له من آل رزيك أسرة

هم ساعد الملك العقيم وكاهله

a radiant man, with a family from the house of Ruzzik:

they are the forearm and shoulder of barren kingship.

به وبهم لا فرق الله شملهم

أنافت أعاليه وأرست أسافله

Through him and them—may God not divide their union—

its heights soared and its foundations held firm.

تساند مثل البزل منه عصابة

بهم قام صاغيه وأسند مائله

A band of his, like mature camels, supports one another;

through them its leaning side stood upright and its tilted side was braced.

هو الكف والباع الطويل إذا سطوا

وهم عند بطش الراحتين أنامله

He is the palm and the long arm when they strike,

and they are his fingers when the two palms seize.

فيا حاسديهم حاذروا أن تصيبكم

به منجنيقات الردى وجنادله

O you who envy them, beware lest you be struck

by death's catapults and its boulders through him,

ويغرقكم من بحره فيض زاخر

تزيد على فيض البحار جداوله

and an overflowing flood from his sea drown you;

his streams exceed the flood of the seas.

ويا أيها الطير البغاث كأنني

بكم وقد انقضت عليكم أجادله

And O feeble birds, it is as though I see

you, with his falcons already swooping down upon you.

رويدكم يا ملقحيها سفاهة

فهلا لقاح لا تطرق حامله

Hold back, you who foolishly impregnate it!

Then why not a conception whose bearer never gives birth?

ويا واردي ماء العقوق تأدبوا

فذا مورد لا بد تصفو منهله

O you who approach the waters of disloyalty, learn manners,

for this is a watering-place whose drinking-pool must clear.

أراكم أمنتم أن تدار عليكم

رحى الموت أو تلقى عليكم كلاكله

I see you feel safe from the turning upon you

of death's millstone, or the casting upon you of its massive chests.

ألا إن جمعاً يردع السيف جمعه

سيرجع منقاداً إلى الحلم جاهله

Surely, a host whose ranks the sword restrains

will have its ignorant one return, submissive to forbearance.

لقد ضربت أنيابكم في صفاتهم

وعاد بلا ناب على الصخر آكله

Your fangs have indeed struck against their rock,

and he who gnawed upon the rock returned without a fang.

ولم تتركوا التشعيب بقيا وإنما

يعاف ورود البحر والموت ساحله

You did not abandon discord out of mercy; rather,

one shuns the sea when death is its shore.

لقد صفحوا عن زلة النعل منكم

ودان لهم حافي الزمان وناعله

They have pardoned the slipping of your sandal,

and time's barefoot and shod alike have submitted to them.

أفي كل عصر يستطيل مقصر

حقير ويردي نابه الذكر خامله

Does an underachiever swagger in every age,

a contemptible wretch—and a man of obscure name slay one renowned?

ويعلو الثرى نحو الثريا سفاهة

ويسطو بأعيان الزمان أراذله

And does dust rise toward the Pleiades in folly,

while the age's scoundrels assault its eminent men?

وهذا أمير المؤمنين أجل أن

يقاس بخلق وابن ملجم قاتله

And here is the Commander of the Faithful, too exalted

to be compared with any mortal—yet Ibn Muljam was his killer.

وحمزة أودى يوم أحد وإنما

بحربة وحشي أصيبت مقاتله

And Hamza perished on the day of Uhud; it was only

by Wahshi's short spear that his vital parts were struck.

فشكراً على الفخر الذي لك عاجله

وحمداً على الأجر الذي لك آجله

So thanks for the glory that is yours now,

and praise for the reward that awaits you.

وهنيتها من دولة عادلية

يقام بها فرض الندى ونوافله

And may you enjoy it, this reign of al-Adil,

in which generosity's obligatory and voluntary acts are performed.

أراد أناس نقضها فتأكدت

أينقض حبل الله والله فاتله

Some people sought to unravel it, but it grew firmer;

can God's rope be unraveled, when God is the one who twists it?